Mordenkult
Mordenkult is the most infamous tavern in Hemlock Hollow; it is regarded as the birthplace of “black skaldism,” music best described as morbid, dark, and misanthropic.
• The bards who perform black skaldism music for the entertainment of rough crowds at Mordenkult paint their faces with stark black and white pigments to give themselves a startling, demonic appearance.
• Some alarmists claim that black skaldism is corrupting and encourages blasphemy, arson, diabolism, and murder.
• The tavern has several private rooms that can be rented on an hourly basis; these rooms are enchanted to make them safe against scrying and other forms of divination magic.
The Usher House
The Usher family are decrepit necromancers who own a crumbling ancestral estate on the outskirts of Hemlock Hollow. The house sits at the base of a brackish tarn, its foundations cracked and the land around it is choked with black weeds.
• The remaining members of the Usher family have inherited a familial duty to maintain the magical wards keeping a “sleeping” woman named Madeline Usher imprisoned within a glass coffin in the tombs that lie under their manor house.
• Should Madeline awaken, she will destroy the world; as part of the ritual necessary to keep Madeline incarcerated within her glass coffin, the Ushers perform a weekly rite while wearing black garb decorated with the yellowed remnants of ancient bones and gilded, skull-like masks.
Streghastra Road
Streghastra Road cuts through the Kressig Woods to the south of Hemlock Hollow and ends at the northern gates of Creedhall.
• The road is haunted by a fiend known as Black Samael, who takes the form of a massive goat with jet-black fur, fearsome curling horns, and eyes that smolder with infernal flame.
• Black Samael has an especial taste for the flesh and blood of priests, clerics, and other devout followers of the Church.